Industry-funded study of the week: avocados again

When I saw the title of this study, I thought I’ll bet the Hass Avocado people paid for this one.

Bingo.

This is a classic example of an industry-funded study producing the desired result.

• The study: LeBeau K, Segovia-Siapco G, Heskey C …  The Effect of Including 1 Avocado Daily in a Habitual Diet on the Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load in Free-Living Adults with Overweight/Obesity. Current Developments in Nutrition, 2026; 10
• Methods: This secondary analysis used data from the Habitual Diet and Avocado Trial, a multicenter, randomized, parallel-arm study involving 1008 adults with elevated waist circumference. Participants were randomly assigned to either an avocado-supplemented group, instructed to consume 1 large avocado daily with their usual diet, or a control group who maintained their habitual diet and avoided avocados.
• Results: Among 961 participants with complete data (73% females, mean age 50.5 y), the avocado-supplemented group showed a reduction in dietary GL by 13.7 points (95% confidence interval: 17.0, 10.4; P < 0.001) compared with the control. Food groups contributed similar amounts to the overall GL, except for avocado.
• Conclusions: Daily consumption of 1 avocado within the habitual diet significantly reduced GL by almost 14 points, without requiring significant dietary changes. This suggests that incorporating a single nutrient-dense food like avocado can effectively improve the GL simply and sustainably.
• Conflict of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest.
• Funding: The study was funded by the Hass Avocado Board, which had no role in data collection, data analysis, interpretation, or writing the manuscript.

Comment

This also is a classic demonstration of failure to recognize conflicted interests when they exist.  Funding research automatically generates conflicted interests, whether the authors recognize it or not, as these authors do not.  The Hass Board does not have to be involved in data collection, interpretation, or writing.  The mere fact of its funding the study trial establishes its vested interest in the outcome.